The Studio Learning Team

Executive Director

Steve Miranda has worked with diverse populations of students in Seattle’s Central Area and South End as a teacher and administrator since 1998. As a classroom teacher, his journalism students won the National Story of the Year Award in 2006 and again in 2007. In three years as a private school administrator, Steve created a marketing strategy that increased enrollment by 50 percent and annual fundraising by 75 percent.

The Studio Learning model is a result of 19 years of research and experience in the practices that support breakthrough outcomes for students. Steve believes that the most powerful strategy for building powerful learning programs is cultivating a healthy, collaborative culture among adults. He is passionate about deepening his understanding of the ways in which white people can catalyze change in institutionally racist systems.

Program Director

Michele Ramirez is dedicated to public service and community empowerment. After working closely with high-need students through City Year Seattle as a mentor and tutor, she has developed a strong bond with the community and a foundation for an unwavering passion for justice and equity for all children and their families, regardless of ethnicity, language, cultural or monetary circumstances.

She serves as a member of the Immigrant and Refugee Commission for the City of Seattle, where she played a role in drafting the “Welcoming Cities Resolution” that was passed by City Council, declaring Seattle a welcoming city for all immigrants and refugees.

Board of Directors

Jean Johnson, Studio Learning’s founding board president, is a community activist with extensive experience as a Board member and consultant to social enterprises. Currently she serves on the Board of the Progress Alliance of Washington. Jean practiced law at Reed, McClure, Moceri & Thonn in Seattle, and also was a principal in Seattle Community Consultants. Along with her husband Peter Miller, Jean is a co-owner of The Essential Baking Co.

Jennifer Geist, Studio Learning’s founding board vice president, is a global education consultant. She helps teachers, schools, foundations, and students to bring global perspectives into their education work. She specializes in online collaboration, curriculum development, and project-based learning with international partners. All of her work aims facilitate people working together for a healthier planet.

Alex Allred, Studio Learning’s founding board treasurer, owns Balance Bookkeeping, a company that specializes in financial services for creative people and companies. She has 15 years of bookkeeping and accounting experience for non- and for-profits big and small.

Zawdie Terry a certified personal trainer. He spent most of his college career studying business management and political science at Bellevue College, where he was named Director of the Black Student Union. He is the founder of Health First, which focuses on providing health and wellness education to communities of color. In addition, Zawdie leads youth fitness programs at the YMCA of Greater Seattle.

Advisors

Steve Arnold works with a number of organizations focusing on innovations in education. He is co-founder and vice chairman of the board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), an operating foundation that conducts research on educational best practices and promotes innovation by publishing stories of exemplary programs in teaching and learning (www.edutopia.org). He serves on the boards of CASEL (The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning), which is pioneering and developing the field of social and emotional learning in schools, Enlearn, which is developing a personalized, data-driven adaptive learning platform, The Teaching Channel, which focuses on improving teacher practices, and The New Mexico School for the Arts. He also chairs the board of Healthy Minds Innovations, a non-profit organization founded to bring to the world the discoveries of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM), a neuroscience research lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Steve Johnson was Director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development from 2008 to July 2015. Steve shaped and guided the city’s economic development agenda through the recession and the subsequent recovery. New initiatives launched under his leadership include StartupSeattle in support of Seattle’s bustling entrepreneurial community, Only in Seattle to invest in neighborhood-led commercial district revitalization efforts, and SkillUp Washington to create successful career pathways for low-income adults to obtain living wage jobs. Steve serves on the board of the Seattle Colleges Foundation.

Kelly Chang seeks to accelerate work toward equity and excellence in the health and education as an independent consultant and volunteer specializing in growth-stage nonprofit organizations. She provides visioning, process and program design, strategic planning, data analysis, and business plan support. She is Vice Chair on the Board of Trustees for The Little School, an independent school providing progressive education in Bellevue, and President of the Board of the Ren Che Foundation, which invests in scalable solutions for building resilient and just communities.

John Kim is the Executive Director of Seattle Jobs Initiative, where he served on the Board of Directors for four years before taking his current position. Prior to that he served as Chief Operations Officer for Northwest Regional Primary Care Association and as Executive Director of the Northwest Hospital Foundation. John practiced law with the firm of Green, Stewart, Farber & Anderson in Washington, D.C. for eight years before moving to Seattle. He chaired the D.C. Mayor’s Commission on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs.

Lisa Fitzhugh is the Founding Partner of Creative Ground. She has worked within the political, public, private and non-profit sectors for the last 25 years. Lisa is also the founder and former executive director of Arts Corps, the largest arts education program in Washington State reaching underserved communities throughout King County. Arts Corps’ award-winning program has become a national model for combining arts education with social change.

About Studio Learning

Studio Learning is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle. We catalyze changes in our education system, applying new solutions to old problems.

We're focused not just on doing good work; we're committed to systems work.